Destroyers of Old
by Silverdogz
Summary: In 2525 humanity entered a war against a conglomerate of aliens known as the Covenant. Humanity discovered their status as Reclaimers of the Forerunners. Now their greatest hero must begin to destroy yet again an unstoppable force that once again threatens to destroy life. However he might find a secret that will shake the galaxy.
1. Chapter 1

Cortana looked around the cryogenics chamber of the _Forward Unto Dawn_ and sighed. 3 years 46 days and... 30 minutes had passes since the destruction of Installation 04-B and the Flood. She shuddered at the memory of Gravemind if hadn't been for John she might have broken and surrendered all the secrets she knew. She killed the process that was reminiscing due to the fact that a large planet's gravity well had caught them. She aimed a camera at the planet and simultaneously started the Chief's thaw from cryo. What she saw shocked her. It appeared to be a planet enclosed within a shell as she observed it a huge circular hole opened and 3 constructs that were hundreds of meters long flew out. They resembled a sheathed sword as she observed their single red eye opened and appeared to scan the ship. A blue golden beam shot out of the eyes surrounding the aft section of the _Forward Unto Dawn_ and created a bubble of golden light that kept the ship stable as it slowly floated closer to the opening in the planet guided and kept the frigate from crashing into the planet below. Behind her pedestal the Master Chief opened his eyes as he completely thawed out. His instincts kicked in and his hands rushed forward only to hit the cryo pod lid smashing the hardened plexiglass.

"You didn't have to do that you know." said Cortana smiling a little at the Chief's reaction. The Chief only looked at her through the MJOLNIR visor.

Sit-rep Cortana."

"We're in the back half of the _Dawn_, and we are slowly going into what-appears to be a Forerunner planet and we are being towed in by enormous sentinels."

"How big?"

"According to what's left of the _Dawn's _sensors they are 250 meters long and are currently guiding us to what appears to be a dry dock for ship repair."

"I need a weapon." said John.

"Yank me. And follow the signs to your left to the armory." John reached down and pulled out her chip and slotted it home into the back of his helmet. Soon the feeling of pain followed by a cold sensation came and went.

'Still plenty of room in here I see.' said Cortana via the neural interface. John ignored her customary quip and continued to follow the signs to the armory. The door swished open proving that a UNSC fusion reactor is still one of the hardest thing to kill without a straight shot to it. He walked through the door and the lights flickered on illuminating a handsome stash of weaponry. He strode forward and picked up two SMG's and placed them on his thighs. He grabbed an MA5C and slapped a fresh mag in. He also grabbed a Spartan Laser off the rack to clipped it on his back. Turning he walked back through the door. All of a sudden his HUD flashed and went staticky.

"Cortana?" asked John.

"I-Its me, Chief." said Cortana "I'm starting to go rampant... I've been online for almost 8 years now."

"We'll fix it."said John stoically.

"If we can't?" asked Cortana

"We'll fix it." repeated John. As he walked to the observation deck and opened the shutters. The _Dawn _was just sliding home to the dry dock. He turned and walked down to the airlock. His armored boots rang on the metal floor and the stair case as he got closer to the airlock. As he waited for it to cycle he realized this was one of the first times he had actually used an airlock in 2 years. He smiled slightly beneath his helmet as he stepped through the airlock door out on to the ancient Forerunner buildings. Not for the first time he wished that sometimes he didn't were a helmet so he could feel the warmth of his surroundings. His motion tracker pinged bringing him out of his revelry a contact was coming towards him he lowered his assault rifle when he discerned the object to be a Monitor however this one wasn't silver instead it was a black with deep purple lines and two "eyes".

"Amazing! A reclaimer!" exclaimed the Monitor "I am 2402 Fleeting Shadow. Monitor of shield world designate Requiem." The Monitor's cheerful manner made the Spartan wary of it but at least it wasn't humming... yet.

"Are there any Flood specimens here?" asked Cortana.

"Negative Construct." said Shadow. Just then John's HUD flashed red accompanied by a noise of pain from Cortana.

"Reclaimer. We must take your construct to a repair area." announce Shadow as he hovered. John looked at Fleeting for a second and then surrendered Cortana's chip. A gold/gray beam shot out of Shadow's eyes and picked up Cortana and began to hover fast enough to make the Chief jog to keep up. After several twists and turns they arrived at a repair bay. There 3 Huragok grabbed the chip and began to take it apart.

"What are they doing?" asked the Chief with just a hint of a threat in his voice.

"Upgrading her to a Contender class A.I. This will increase her lifetime to near infinite if properly taken care of and will retain her personality. An area which I believe the Reclaimer's surpassed my creators in." said Fleeting Shadow.

While Cortana was being upgraded Chief slowly brought Shadow up to speed.

"Ah, yes Spark. He was always one for protocol but the years of Isolation must have gotten to him. That reminds me to check on the other monitors. I'm sorry to hear about Tangent but he went out with a bang at least."said Shadow at the end of the Chief's tale. As Shadow completed his sentence the holoprojector hummed and Cortana appeared.

"How do you feel?" asked John.

"Better than ever. The Ark and Halo data now only occupies .7% of my memory." said Cortana happily.

"Also I have a new Mjolnir design prepped for you. I based it off MJOLNIR VII and Combat Skin 18." said Cortana.

"Your netruision skills are exmplary Construct." said Shadow with what appeard to be pride.

"Reclaimer I have prepped the medical bay to recieve you. They will perform ssurgery on your failing organs and inject nanites which will help with healing and should stop aging." said Shadow "Please follow this Sentinel to the Med bay while your construct and I go over your new ship."

A green sentinel floated out of wall and glided towards the Chief. He looked at Cortana but she was already busy with Fleeting in a conversation about their new ship. He got up from his postion ond followed the Sentinel out of the Repair bay and through the corridors. He saw a few constructor sentinels but that was about it until they reached the medical center. It's stark white contrasted oddly with the deep silver of the walls. They walked through the door and into a room. John egan to remove his armor. Stacking it neatly and then removing the black titanium weave body suit. He went over to the table and laid down. A mask went down over his face and he blacked out.

Slowly he came to. Looking at his arms the numerous burn marks, scars, bullet holes and even his augmentation scars were gone. In fact all his aches were gone. He stood up and found a black shirt with the UNSC logo stiched on it as well as gloves, boots, and combat pants. As he pulled the last glove on the clothes coleasced into the usual SPARTAN body suit. He smiled at Cortana's ingenuity. As soon as he finished that thought the holoprojector winked to life.

"Hi, Chief how you feeling." asked Cortana.

"Better than ever, Athough I would like my armor back." said Chief.

"Follow the Sentinel to your favorite toy!" said Cortan grinning like mad. He got up and followed the same Sentinel.

"How long was I out?." asked John.

"About a week." said Cortana through the sentinel as it's green lights shone blue. John simply nodded and they arrived at his armor. It looked similar and still had his helmet style. But it was definitley slimmer.

"Give me the rundown Cortana." said John examining the armor with a careful eye.

"Well, It's made of Forerunner Alloy and some of the _Dawn's _plating, it has a link to the Slipspace teleportation grid, 3 layers of shielding, self-repairing to a point and is powered by a star." said Cortana. "Did I mention I love Forerunner technology."

John began to assemble his suit it felt light. In fact he wouldn't have noticed he was encased by it until he set his helemet over his head. Soon the usual blue HUD came to life and the shield bar slowly began to fill. First a blue layer followed by green and then red bar. He smiled as remebered the test that Dr. Halsey had given him and he thought about movving his arm to his chest. His arm blurred forward at speeds that seemed to surpass Kelly's speeds. He slowly stepped off the platform taking care not to move too quickly.

"Did I forget to mention the force multiplying circuits got an upgrade too." smiled Cortana.

"..." John reached over to her pedestal and retracted her new chip. It was half the size of her old one and the crystal chip had changed from a teal to a green. When he slotted it in to his helmet the pain and cold sensation never came.

"Much cozier in here. Would you like to see our new ride?" asked Cortana.

"With pleasure." said John as he followed the waypoint. Soon he arrived at the drydock there was a new ship in the dock. It was the size and shape of a Colony ship and it's name was _The Pillar of Dawn._ A fitting name for that reminded the Chief of his times on both _The Pillar of Autumn _and _The Forward Unto Dawn_. He continued to the airlock followed closely by Fleeting Shadow who accompanied them.

"What kind of teeth does she have?" asked John.

"This ship is armed with two Super Macs and two energy projectors as a main armaments and four regular MAC's up front. Eight Mini-Macs on each side supported by 300 pods of Forerunner Hydra missles which can split into smaller missiles, 12 plasma turrents on each side as well as 25 hardlight _e Dawn _uses both pulse lasers and 50 caliber cannons for point defense and missile defence. She also had shields that can take a hit from a SMAC and only drop 25%. She is powered much like the _Autumn_ with three stars powering the entire ship. We have Longswords that have been upgraded with shields and plasma weaponry. Also we have a Forerunner slipspace drive." said Fleeting.

"How did you do this in a week?" asked John.

"At the core of the ship we have a Forerunner constructor that makes our kinetic reloads as well as weapons. The ship was built arround it." answered Cortana. John nodded and began to make his way towards the bridge seeing numerous Sentinels and Huragok. He occasionally saw Enforcers and Majors making their way along. In one Frigate sized room the three Guardian sentinels were there as well as 5 Longswords. Soon he reached the bridge. He deposited Cortana and sat in the Captain's chair.

"Shakedown complete. Would you like to launch?" asked Fleeting.

"Yes." said John. With that the engines ignited and the _Pillar of Dawn _began to lift off from the drydock and accelerate towards the exterior shell of Requiem.

"Opening main access door." announced Fleeting. As the giant door began to spiral open and the _ Dawn _accelerated through the door.

"Charging drive enacting Cole Protocol." announced Cortana. "Alert! Slipspace drive at 125% and climbing! Reactors starting to heat! Venting to engines!"

"Go to Slipspace NOW!" Roared John as a massive Slipspace portal opened and the _Dawn_ moved through it.

Meanwhile the Reaper invasion of Earth was ongoing. Shepard stood on the bridge of her ship the _SSV Normandy_ as she watched Earth be invaded.

"Commander! Unknown anomaly detected!" said EDI.

"Reaper?" asked Jane as she looked at galaxy map.

"Displaying now." said EDI. The galaxy map was chased out by an image of a Giant portal spinning about 500 kilometers off the _Normandy_'s bow. Soon something began to emerge from it and it was huge ship. On it's side it read _UNSC Pillar of Dawn._

"EDI how big is that ship." said Shepard as she stared at it. It looked like a really big rifle. Obviously a war ship.

"Commander it is 2.5 kilometers long and it's power ratings are astronomical." said EDI. "However it has no trace of eezo." said EDI.

"How? Everything needs eezo to use FTL." said Joker.

"Obviously they don't." said Shepard.

"Commander we are recieveing a visual transmission." said EDI.

Aboard the _Dawn_

"Cortana where are we." asked Chief.

"According to sensors we are... near Earth." said Cortana "Wait it's not our Earth. Africa is still whole." For the first time in his life the Chief swore.

"Hail that ship that's closest to us Fleeting." said John.

"Yes, Reclaimer." said Fleeting.

"This is Master Chief Petty Officer SPARTAN 117! Identify yourself and do require assistance!" said John.

"I am Commander Jane Shepard and we don't need assisstance. Earth does." said Jane staring at the armored behemoth.

"I need targets." said John.

"Anything shaped like a squid." said Jane.

"Understood." said John. "Cortana target largest squids with the Super MACs and energy projectors and fire at will at everything else."

"Yes Sir."

The Normandy.

"Is he fucking crazy!" yelled Joker as the_ Dawn _ moved towards the Reaper fleet.

"Wait, I wanna see this." said Jane. She was not to be dissapointed as four flashes of light erupted from the _Dawn_ two being yellow and the others white. The yellow ones impacted on the largest Reapers causing their kinetic barriers to flare and fail allowing the massive rounds to hole the Reapers instantly putting them out of the fight. The rounds continued on two smash two more Reapers behind them and exploded causing the more barriers to flare but not fail. The white beams were even more deadly if that was possible. They simply passed through four reapers bisecting them and destroying them. Then the ssecondary weapons systems came alive. A dozen red lines began to gather themselves on each side of the hull. Eventually releasing plasma torpedoes which tracked the Reapers that tried to escape. They simply hit the armor and boiled away at it. Slowly eating the Reapers as they vainly tried to escape. The _Dawn _moved closer still and a few hundred missiles left it. Then they split into thousands of missiles that overloaded the kinetic barriers allowing the missiles to tear the Reapers apart. Then numerous cannons appeared to fire some sort of white projectile that started to pound away at the armor. These Reapers were then holed by a smaller projectile. A few Reapers fired their lasers at the mammoth ship only for them to be absorbed by a golden shield system.

"EDI! I want analysis on those weapons 2 minutes ago!" said Shepard staring in awe at the ship that had destroyed a large part of the Reaper fleet. Speaking of which the remaining Reapers including Harbinger had decided to get the hell out of Dodge.

"Commander the first two weapons fired were enormous mass accelerator rounds that went at four percent light speed, the two white beams were projections of pure energy which bypassed the kinetic barriers, the blue torpedos that we saw were in fact plasma and the missles were incrediably advanced and able to split. However the final munitions used were excited photons." EDI paused for dramatic effect. "That ship has managed to use the omni-tool hardlight and made it into cannons."

"What about that shielding system. It can't be a kinetic barrier." said Liara looking slightly nervous at the ship that was simply floating there.

"Our kinetic barriers are quite similar Dr. T'Soni, however they are energy shields that absorb energy from both kinetic and energy weapons which make it much tougher and more resilient against all munitions including DEW's." said EDI.

_Pillar of Dawn_

"Status!" barked John gazing at the sleek corvette analogue that drifted in space above Earth.

"Shields are at 87% after those laser's hit us and the SMAC's and MAC's are recharging, plasma turrets are cycling and Hydra pods are being restocked as we speak." said Cortana.

"Excellent, Contact that Corvette Fleeting." said John.

"Yes Reclaimer." said Fleeting accessing the COM.

"This is John-117 of the _Pillar of Dawn, _I am sending down our single ship fighters to mop up resistance on "Earth". However I would like to speak to you on my ship."

"Why in the hell would I go to you ship." said Jane with slight venom.

"Do you really have a choice." said John letting the threat hang in the air.

"_Sigh_ I really like the _Normandy_ the way it is so I'll bite. Where do you want my shuttle to come in." said Jane with her souldiers slightly slumped.

"Who said you would need a shuttle. I will have a Longsword bring you in to dock." said John terminating the link.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Cortana.

"No, But there is not a better way to get information about where we are." said John.

"Joker take us in towards that ship." ordered Shepard.

"Commander are you sure that is a good idea?" asked Joker.

"Do you want a repeat of the Collector incident?" asked Shepard staring at the image of the ship that had numerous black fighters pouring out of it and flying down to the surface.

"EDI status of Earth defense." ordered Shepard.

"Reaper forces are being destroyed... five of those single ships just took down a Reaper Frigate Class." said EDI. A single ship manuevered in front of them. It was angular and flat and loocked best suited for both atmosphere and space.

"EDI scan for life signs." said Shepard.

"Shepard-Commander, We have detected no life-signs." said Legion.

"Commander! We are entering the ship's cargo bay... WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!" yelled Joker of the PA.

"Onscreen!" ordered Shepard. The image of the hold was chased out by a 3D model of a deep silver object shaped like a sheathed sword that according to the readouts was about the size of the _Normandy._

"Shepard-Commander, construct appears to have a combat-AI." announced Legion.

"EDI!" said Jane.

"I am detecting numerous AI's that seem to be slightly smarter than VI's but are nonsentient." said EDI. All too soon the _Normandy _touched down on the deck. Shepard selected Miranda and Garrus to accompany her aboard the _Dawn_. Hopefully Miranda could gain some insight of the ship and it's armored captain.

A/N: So that's a wrap for Chapter One of _Destroyers of Old. _I overpowered the _Dawn _a bit. But it's for a good reason. I haven't followed ME as much as Halo so correct me on a few things. Also if you want to flame SIGN IN. Anonymous reviews will be deleted without being looked at. I get to flame back at the right people.

Silverdogz.


	2. UNSC Specifications

_**UNSC Pillar of Dawn**_

**Class: Phoenix Class**

**Power Source: One Forerunner hard light Star class fusion reactor, supplemented by two Forerunner hard light Mini-Star class fusion reactor.**

**Main Armament: Two Super Mass Accelerator cannons with ODP recoil compensators mounted under bridge, Two Energy projectors on belly.**

**Secondary Armament: Four MAC cannons mounted on "wings" two on each. Eight Mini-MAC's mounted one each side. Three hundred Hydra missile pods mounted on both sides. Twelve plasma turrets on each side. Twenty-five hard light cannons.**

**Point Defense: Pulse lasers and .50 caliber auto cannons.**

**Defense: Forerunner/UNSC shielding. Forerunner alloy and Titanium A battle plating. **

**Interior Defense: Sentinel Minors and Sentinel Majors.**

_**Longsword **_**Class Interceptor.**

**Armament: Moray nuclear mines, Mini Plasma turrets (two). One Shiva nuclear missile.**

**Defense: Sabre/Forerunner Shielding and Titanium A armor.**

** MJOLNIR MK VII**

**Power source: Armor Star class hard light Fusion Reactor.**

**Shielding- Triple layer Forerunner Shielding.**

**Armor: Titanium A and Forerunner Combat Skin Class 18 armor.**

**Self Repairing.**

**Added magnetic clamps**

**All MJOLNIR features: motion tracker, munition monitoring, etc.**

**UNSC S-****ERROR INFORMATION UNACCESIBLE AT THIS TIME...**


	3. Chapter 2

Shock and awe were two excellent words to describe the hangar of the _Dawn_ with its silver walls and blue accents. Soon however the sound of footfalls reached Shepard's ears. She turned with her hand resting on the butt of her Carnifex Handcannon. The massive green behemoth before her was impressive to say the least. He stood at least seven feet tall and his armor had glowing accents in places. He was holding a bulky rifle at a rest position. His chest plate read UNSC-Spartan II-117, this was the acting captain of the _Dawn._

"Welcome aboard Commander." he said with his borderline synthetically deep voice. He turned on his heel and his hand motioned for her and her team to follow. Soon they arrived at a room that seemed much more... _human_ compared to the rest of the ship. It had an oak conference table with rich leather chairs. He motioned for her to take a seat. She did so but had her team remain standing. A holographic projector flicked on in the middle of the table. Out came a blue woman who had lines of code running up and down her digital "body."

"Where are we?" asked what Shepard though was VI.

"Above Earth. I believed I mentioned that." said Shepard looking at confusion at 117. His head cocked to the side for a moment.

"It's not our Earth." he said finally.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Shepard. He simply gestured towards the V.I.

"On our Earth the year is 2552 and Humanity does not rely on so-called Element Zero, and the Mass Relay, Asari, Geth, Salarian, Turian, Krogan and Batarian's do not exist and we have finally ended a 30 year war with a conglomerate of Aliens known as the Covenant." said Cortana.

"If you're not from here how do you know this?" asked Shepard.

"I bypassed your laughably primitive security measures and downloaded a complete history of the Galaxy as we know It." said Cortana smirking.

"You have an A.I! Are you fucking crazy!" yelled Miranda as she aimed her weapon at Cortana. This got a reaction from the jolly green giant. Faster than Shepard could follow he had disarmed Miranda and was pointing her weapon at her head.

"I suggest you do not do that again." his voice was deadly calm and serious.

"Miranda, Stand down. We don't know anything about this A.I" ordered Shepard. Miranda nodded. At this Master Chief lowered her weapon and handed it back.

"Now, that we've gotten that out of the way. Would you be so kind as to let the System Alliance know that we are not hostile." said Cortana. "I'm receiving numerous queries and targeting lock."

"How, it'll take ages to get to the bridge." said Garrus speaking for the first time

"Nope, we're leaving right about now." said Cortana as yellow rings surrounded them and with a flash they disappeared from the room leaving only a few specks of light which soon winked out too. They reappeared on the bridge of the _Dawn_ looking out onto Earth which still bore a few scars from the recent Reaper attack. A second flash appeared and a strange black machine floated in air. It floated over to the Chief carrying two olive green rectangular objects.

"Reclaimer I have finished your plasma blades." it announced in a cheerful accent-less voice. John walked over and picked up the objects. He slotted them into a port on top of his gauntlet. They released a slit of light on the business end of them to show that they were active.

"Receiving transmission from _SSV George Washington_" announced Cortana.

"_UNSC Pillar of Dawn _you requested to state your intentions." came the voice of the COM technician.

"_Washington _this is Commander Shepard of the _SSV Normandy_ the _Pillar of Dawn_ is non-hostile." said Shepard looking at Chief.

"Understood." came the reply and the connection was terminated.

"I just stuck my neck out there for you." said Shepard.

"I swore an oath to protect humanity at all costs." was the stony reply.

UNSC TRANSPONDER DETECTED... UNSC PILLAR OF DAWN, CLASS-MODIFIED PHOENIX

BEGIN A.I STARTUP

A.I "SERINA"SNA 1292-4 ONLINE, LIFE EXPECTANCY... 6 MONTHS

The _Spirit of Fire_ began to slowly return to operation. The deuterium fusion reactor spinning up to full military power. In the cryo bay a few pods began to defrost, namely Captain Cutter, Douglas -042, Jerome-092, Alice-130, Ellen Anders and John Forge. The non-Spartans pulled themselves out of their tubes and fell on the floor coughing up the nutrients. It always somehow managed to taste like mucus and limes. The Spartans simply got up and began to check their armor and weapons. Soon a trio of _Bzzzm_ was heard as their suits began to charge their shields. The Captain, Anders and Forge opted to clothe and each buckled an M6D magnum to their thigh.

"Serina Status of the _Fire_?" asked Cutter as he began to walk to the bridge accompanied by Anders, Forge and the Spartans.

"She is beginning to pull out of holding and orient to jump towards this UNSC transponder." said Serina. The small crew arrived on the bridge. Anders made her way over to the COM seat and sat down while Jerome manned weapons. Alice navigation, Douglas and Forge manned the MAC cannon controls.

"What ship is it?" asked Cutter as Serina's avatar came into existence.

"UNSC _Pillar of Dawn_. Get this she is the same class as us. Modified Phoenix class." said Serina.

"Can we send a transmission?" asked Cutter towards Anders.

"Negative, we are too far away to contact them." said Anders.

"Very well, Serina ETA for Slipspace." ordered Cutter.

"About 1 day Captain." said Serina.

"Good, Prep for Slipspace jump and wake up the rest of the crew." said Cutter.

**CITADEL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS**

"Councilor Udina, we have received reports of a massive _Human_ ship appearing over Earth and defeating Reapers with ease." said Sparatus.

"If you mean to say that it's an Alliance ship. Than you are seriously mistaken Councilor." said Udina. 'Of course NOW you believe that the Reapers exist.' he thought to himself.

"Agree with Udina, Ship does not have Mass Effect core or match Human ship design." said Valern

"By the Goddess, What is powering that Super Dreadnought then?" asked Tevos.

"The Alliance does not know, Although Commander Shepard and her ship are aboard the _Dawn_ right now." said Udina.

"Very well, we will wait to see how this unfolds." said Sparatus.

"I want to know more about the _Dawn._" said Shepard looking the Chief right in the visor.

"Why should we give you information." said Cortana

"Because if you don't want to be attacked by the Council, You need to give me information." said Shepard. Master Chief nodded to Cortana.

"Very well, The _Pillar of Dawn _has a Star Class hard-light fusion reactor supported by two Mini-Star Class hard-light fusion reactors." said Cortana

"Wait, why it is a so-called Star class." said Miranda

"Because the Star class reactor gives the equivalent power of about Half of Sol. The Mini-Stars are half of that." said Cortana

"So you basically have Sol powering the Ship." said Garrus. Chief only nodded. Shepard felt her mouth fall open and saw that Miranda had done the same.

"We also have a layer of Energy Shielding that surrounds the _Dawn_ at all times and we have the ability to drop sections at a time if we need to." said Cortana. She looked at John to see if she should detail more. He shook his head.

"What's the difference between your shields and our kinetic barriers." asked Miranda.

"They try to absorb the energy of shots fired at it and they'll stop Direct Energy Weapons as well." said Cortana.

"So they stop anything." said Garrus.

"Yes." said Chief. His voice startled Shepard slightly.

"We have shown you enough. We will continue this tomorrow." said Chief.

"Fine, but our ship stays on the _Dawn_." said Shepard.

"As long as you do not try to access the _Dawn's _systems and don't leave the hangar. You may stay." said Chief. Shepard and her team were teleported to the hangar and Cortana looked at the Chief.

"Why'd you do that." said Cortana

"As you said, we're a long way from home. We need to build up trust." said Chief.

_UNSC Pillar __of__ Dawn CFV-25 - _Hangar.

Shepard felt disconcerted as the bridge disappeared to be replaced by the hangar with the _Normandy_ in dock. She walked up into the airlock and the usual voice played. She walked through to CIC.

"What did you learn from the jolly green giant?" asked Joker.

"Not much, Except for the fact that he has a couple of A.I's, his ship has the equivalent of Sol powering it and it has shields that will stop many DEWs." said Shepard.

"A.I's? Plural?" asked Joker.

"Yeah, one seems to be a ball while the other is much more human." said Miranda. She turned and walked to her quarters.

"We'll be staying here for the night Joker." ordered Shepard.

"Commander, you have a call from the Council." said EDI.

"Grrreaaat." said Shepard as she walked towards the call room.

"Shepard, we have reports that you are on the _Pillar of Dawn_." said Tevos.

"Yes, I'm currently on board." said Shepard.

"Do you have any information?" asked Valern.

"Yes, It doesn't use Mass Effect for anything, It's powered by three fusion reactors that when they're all firing it basically Sol powering the ship and they have shielding capable of stopping a DEW." said Shepard. She decided not to mention the A.I's because that would NOT go over well.

"We need more information, you will get us this." said Sparatus. The link soon terminated.

"I'm going to shoot him one day." said Shepard. As she turned and walked to the elevator. She went up to her quarters and slept. Thankfully it was dreamless.

**NEXT DAY, SYSTEM: SOL**

Chief awoke in his quarters. He had slept in his suit, again. He sat up and began to do his morning routine, Breakfast followed by a short workout in the gym while Cortana monitored the _Normandy _and its crew. A Liara T'Soni was making a great number of communications with laughable encryption. They all seemed to refer to her as the Shadow Broker. A quick trip on to the so-called Extranet yielded the information that she was some sort of information broker. At the moment she was trying to dig up any info on the UNSC. Cortana set a subroutine to see if anything came up. Her thoughts and the Chief's workout was interrupted by a Slipspace rupture. The Chief began to run to the bridge hoping for UNSC contact.

"Commander Shepard required on bridge." Said Cortana's voice as it echoed through the ship. Shepard stepped out of the _Normandy_ and felt the familiar bands course around her and Liara as they were teleported to the Bridge. Onscreen a spinning white disk that was appearing in space, Chief was staring straight at it.

"What is that?" said Liara.

"Slipspace rupture, looks like a UNSC slipspace drive. We're about to have serious company." Said Cortana.

"Picking up a friendly transponder. Reclaimer." Said Shadow.

"Any information." Said Chief.

"Yes, it appears to be the _Spirit of Fire_, Reclaimer." Said Shadow.

"No… That ship disappeared in a slipspace accident." Said Cortana. As if on cue the comms squawked.

"This is UNSC _Spirit of Fire_ to UNSC _Pillar of __Dawn_." Said Captain Cutter.

"This is UNSC_ Pillar of Dawn. _We read you _Fire_." Said Cortana.

"Good, who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?' asked Captain Cutter.

"Acting Captain, Spartan Sierra-177." Said Master Chief.

"Chief? You're alive?" said Cutter hardly believing his shock.

"Apparently so are you Captain." Said Cortana. Onscreen the battered _Spirit of Fire_ began to pull itself out of the Slipspace portal.

"Yes, requesting hard-lock?" asked Captain Cutter.

"Granted." Said Master Chief. The two ships began to maneuver towards each other. The slip space portal winking out behind them. Liara sighed at the missed opportunity to study slipspace. Soon a loud boom echoed through the ship as they locked together. The now familiar bands of light ensconced the humans and alien on the bridge and brought them to the hard lock door. The seals winked green and the hatch opened. Revealing three more Spartans that dropped through the hole assault rifles pointed in Liara's direction.

"Stand down." Said Chief. The Spartans straightened as put up their weapons. Soon Ellen Anders followed, then John Forge and Captain Cutter. Once Cutter's boots hit the deck Chief snapped to salute followed by the other Spartans.

"At ease." Said Cutter looking around.

"Mind telling me what happened to this colony ship?" asked Cutter. The entire group retired to the conference room where Cortana proceeded to tell about Alpha Halo, the two battles of Earth, Delta Halo, the fighting on the Ark and Requiem where they got their ship. Cutter simply nodded or asked for more clarification. Soon enough they finished without Liara who had to go the bathroom when the flood came up.

"That's the story so far Captain, We came to this Earth found them under attack and helped out." Said Cortana.

"I do have one question. When can the _Fire _get some upgrades?" asked Cutter. Cortana grinned.

"Right away sir. I'll have a forerunner constructer built first, then you shouldn't need any help. Just let the sentinels and Engineers do their job." Said Cortana.

"Excellent." Said Cutter. He nodded to Commander Shepard on his way out. Inside Shepard groaned. Now there were two giant ships in orbit above Earth, the Council was just going to love this. Mentally she prepped herself for the coming argument between them.

1 WEEK LATER…

The _Spirit of Fire_ had finished her upgrades. Now the ships were basically twins in every way. However the _Pillar of Dawn_ had something rather special. It had Cortana and the Spartans as her only ground combat crew. She was in essence the most deadly ship at the moment. Shepard had left to go to Mars to investigate some outpost that was hit by the Reapers on the way to Mars. They now had a couple of watchers from the so-called Council that was the governing body here. So far Serina and Cortana had dealt with over two hundred and fifty-seven unauthorized access to the systems. The A.I's were their most guarded secret because they knew what an uproar it would cause. The System Alliance was for the moment without a council and Admiral Hackett was leading it for the moment. Master Chief's musing was interrupted by Cortana.

"Chief, The _Normandy_'s back." Said Cortana.

"Show me." Said Chief as walked to the view screen. It came to life displaying the Normandy in its minute glory as it drifted towards the sister ships of the UNSC.

"Incoming transmission from the _Normandy_." Said Cortana putting it on screen. Shepard's face came on screen sporting a few bruises.

"What do you need Commander?" asked Master Chief.

"I need the both of you to come with me to Palaven. We need the Turian's in this fight or it's not going to be a very long one." Said Shepard.

"Understood. Captain Cutter?" asked Chief. Another screen opened displaying the Captain.

"I want to see what the _Fire_ can do now." Said Captain Cutter. The two huge ships moved and began to make the slipspace jump to Palaven. The Reapers had no idea what was coming.


End file.
